Discovery BoxEsther 1:10 
Context1:10 On the seventh day, as King Ahasuerus was feeling the effects of the wine, 1 he ordered Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who attended him, 2
Esther 4:5
Context4:5 So Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who had been placed at her service, 3 and instructed him to find out the cause and reason for Mordecai’s behavior. 4
Esther 6:4
Context6:4 Then the king said, “Who is that in the courtyard?” Now Haman had come to the outer courtyard of the palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had constructed for him.
Esther 6:6
Context6:6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?” Haman thought to himself, 5 “Who is it that the king would want to honor more than me?”
Esther 7:7
Context7:7 In rage the king arose from the banquet of wine and withdrew to the palace garden. Meanwhile, Haman stood to beg Queen Esther for his life, 6 for he realized that the king had now determined a catastrophic end for him. 7
Esther 8:3
Context8:3 Then Esther again spoke with the king, falling at his feet. She wept and begged him for mercy, that he might nullify the evil of Haman the Agagite which he had intended against the Jews. 8
Esther 9:4
Context9:4 Mordecai was of high rank 9 in the king’s palace, and word about him was spreading throughout all the provinces. His influence 10 continued to become greater and greater.
1 tn Heb “as the heart of the king was good with the wine.” Here the proper name (King Ahasuerus) has been substituted for the title in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Heb “King Ahasuerus”; here the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons. Cf. similarly NIV, NCV, CEV, NLT “King Xerxes.”
3 tn Heb “whom he caused to stand before her”; NASB “whom the king had appointed to attend her.”
4 tn Heb “concerning Mordecai, to know what this was, and why this was.”
5 tn Heb “said in his heart” (so ASV); NASB, NRSV “said to himself.”
6 sn There is great irony here in that the man who set out to destroy all the Jews now finds himself begging for his own life from a Jew.
7 tn Heb “for he saw that calamity was determined for him from the king”; NAB “the king had decided on his doom”; NRSV “the king had determined to destroy him.”
8 sn As in 7:4 Esther avoids implicating the king in this plot. Instead Haman is given sole responsibility for the plan to destroy the Jews.
9 tn Heb “great”; NRSV “powerful”; NIV “prominent”; NCV “very important.”
10 tn Heb “the man Mordecai” (so NASB, NRSV).
